A/N 7/11/13:Yes, I have FINALLY edited this story. All chapters will be up most likely within the hour. I am also re-editing The Twins Who Lived and the Sorcerer's Stone, just checking for inconsistonsies and minor errors. It's not necessary to re-read that, however. Thanks to all who like Tabitha and Matilda and have stuck with them even though their writer sucks :)
If you haven't read The Twins Who Lived and the Sorcerer's Stone, this probably won't make sense, but feel free to read it anyway! If you forgot what happened or if you haven't read it, you'll be caught up in the first few chapters, so no worries.
Enjoy :)
(Oh, by the way I'm not JK Rowling...no matter how much I wish...)
Chapter 1: Dobby the House elf
The playground on Percale Street was filled with children, even though it was raining. Most of them were splashing in the puddles, sliding down the slides, all wearing raincoats, and some carrying umbrellas.
Two girls, however, weren't playing with the others. They sat in the play tunnel, keeping dry, as they didn't have raincoats like the others. The girls were completely identical; they had long black hair, square black glasses, brilliant green eyes, and each had a lightning-bolt shaped scar on their foreheads. They each wore an old leather jacket, a long sleeved gray shirt, and black pants. They looked like normal almost-twelve year old girls, but they weren't.
They carried wands, they went to a magic school during the year, and the scars on their foreheads linked them to the worst Dark wizard the magical world had ever seen. Their names were Tabitha Lillian Jamie Potter and Matilda Violet Alice Potter, and they were witches.
They had spent the last school year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. There, they had made several good friends, learned some magic, and saved a very special Stone from the very dark wizard who had tried to kill them: Lord Voldemort.
The two girls were currently looking at a photo album their friend Hagrid had given them. It was filled with pictures of their parents, but the girls' favorite part was at the end. There were about a dozen pictures of three children, all with black hair and bright green eyes, though two were obviously girls, as they wore dresses through most of the pictures, and another was obviously younger. Some of these showed their parents, holding them and smiling or playing with them, and the strangest thing was, all the pictures moved.
Their favorite picture was one that showed three children – two toddlers and a baby boy – playing in a pile of fall-colored leaves on the ground while two adults sat on a bench in the background. These three children were Tabitha and Matilda with their baby brother, Harry; the other people were James and Lily Potter, their parents.
When Tabitha and Matilda were only one and a half years old, Voldemort had come to their house and killed their parents, James and Lily, and their baby brother, Harry. He had tried to kill them as well, but the curse backfired, for reasons no one knew, and Voldemort was nearly destroyed. Their first year at Hogwarts, he had attached himself to the back of their Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher's head and attempted to steal the Sorcerer's Stone, which would have made him immortal. The twins managed to stop him, but they knew it was just a matter of time before he tried to come back again.
They had only recently found out that they had a brother; Professor Quirrell, while hosting Lord Voldemort himself on the back of his head, had told them about Harry, and they had later asked Professor Dumbledore about it, and he told them that – in the pandemonium of Voldemort's disappearance and the girls' survival – their brother had been forgotten. Few people remembered they had had a sibling at all, but the girls told Dumbledore that they wanted people to know, and he said he'd take care of it, whatever that meant.
On a happier note, at Hogwarts they had made several friends; Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Euterpe Noble, Neville Longbottom, Aaric MacDonald, and Millie Bulstrode. Hermione was very smart and loved to read. Euterpe was very bright and loved learning as well, but slightly more willing to break rules if the situation called for it. Ron was a funny boy who loved to eat and had many other siblings in a family without much money. Neville lived with his grandmother and was very shy but quite good at Herbology and defensive magic. Aaric was a lot like Ron in personality, witty and loyal, but he only had a younger sister, Natalie, at home. Millie had originally been placed in Slytherin House, but had transferred during the middle of the year to Gryffindor.
Unfortunately for the twins, they lived with their Aunt Petunia, Uncle Vernon, and cousin Dudley while they weren't at Hogwarts.
The Dursleys despised magic, and the twins. They had attempted to lock all their school things away for the summer, which would have meant that the girls wouldn't be able to do any of their summer homework, but Tabitha and Matilda Potter were smart, and threatened to use magic on them if they did. Of course, they weren't permitted to use magic out of Hogwarts until they were seventeen, but the Dursleys didn't know that.
So, the girls had kept their trunks, their owl – Hedwig – and their pet sloths, Loch and Jack. They kept to their room most of the time, and – unlike previous years – were not locked in a cupboard, forced to cook and clean all the time, or nearly starved. They were able to do nearly whatever they wanted, such as going to the park, like today.
Tonight, however, their Aunt and Uncle were to have guests over; Mr. and Mrs. Mason, very important clients of their Uncle's, were joining them for dinner. Originally, Uncle Vernon had suggested that the girls stay up in their room all night, but Aunt Petunia had pointed out that if the Masons' found out about the girls, it might appear that they were being mistreated, so they would be attending the dinner party that night as well.
When Aunt Petunia demanded to know if they had any nice clothes, they thought it would be funny to show her their dress robes, which they had gotten the previous year. She was very upset; it was funny. Then she moaned that she would have to buy them things – which would no doubt be hideous – but Matilda mercifully suggested that the girls buy them themselves; they had inherited a lot of money from their parents when they died. Luckily, Petunia agreed, and the girls bought some nice clothes in a nearby shop that morning. Now, they were biding their time before they went back home to shower and dress for dinner.
After Hogwarts, the Muggle world was quite boring. The two twins had been very excited to go back to Hogwarts…until today, at least.
Today was July 31. It was the day after Neville Longbottom's birthday, and the day of their birthday. They had not received a single letter, card, or gift from any of their eight closest friends, or Hagrid, and were very hurt. They had sent their owl, Hedwig, off with a card and a gift for Neville, but didn't receive so much as a thank you. Now that they though about it, they hadn't received a letter at all that summer. They had no idea what to think about all this, so they tried not to.
"It's six," Tabitha finally said. "We'd better get back."
The girls crawled out of the tunnel and began the three-block walk home. Both of them had their wands in their sleeves, in case of emergencies, but it seemed like nothing fun ever happened in the Muggle world.
Privet Drive looked like it always did: perfect hedges, perfect lawn, perfect cars, and what-have-you. Nobody would guess that the two normal-looking girls were witches, and the Dursleys certainly wanted to keep it that way.
Once inside, the girls went straight upstairs and showered quickly, curling their black hair and making themselves as normal as possible. The Masons' needn't know that both of them carried wands in the side of their boots, or that they had two sloths and an owl – not to mention a trunk full of wizard robes and spell books – in their bedroom upstairs.
And at eight o' one precisely, the doorbell rang. Dudley answered, and Uncle Vernon led them into the lounge, where Aunt Petunia and the twins were waiting.
"Welcome, Mr. and Mrs. Mason," said Aunt Petunia. "I'm Petunia Dursley, and of course you've already met our son, Dudley,"
"Oh, yes, such a gentleman!" cried Mrs. Mason graciously. "Please, call me Beatrice."
"Yes, yes, none of that Mr. stuff," smiled Mr. Mason, "I insist that you call me Bernard."
Everyone sat down on the couches.
"Oh, hello," said Beatrice, looking at the girls. "What are your names?"
"I'm Tabitha Potter, and this is my sister, Matilda." said Tabitha before Uncle Vernon could answer.
"Yes, these…lovely girls are our nieces." Said Aunt Petunia, obviously with great difficulty. "We took them in after the tragic death of their mother and father."
"And our brother," piped up Matilda.
Uncle Vernon started to glare at them, but then seemed to think better of it.
"Yes, that's right…they were killed in their home by some mad-man…" he said thickly, obviously trying to demonstrate how caring he was.
Beatrice clapped a hand to her heart, looking tearful.
"Little Harvey was only an infant too," said Petunia, catching on.
"Harry." said Tabitha automatically.
"Harry, yes…" Petunia blew her nose. "We don't really have the space for everyone…been trying to get a bigger house…But oh well…they say all you need is love, isn't that right?"
The twins felt like they had stepped into an alternative universe. Dudley looked as shocked as they felt.
During dinner, it became clear that their Aunt and Uncle had decided to use the girls' 'tragic' story to put up a front of kind, caring relatives. The girls didn't mind that much, as the Dursleys were now being nice as could be to them, though with noticeable strain.
While they were sitting in the living room before desert, they heard Hedwig making a racket upstairs.
A vein in Uncle Vernon's head throbbed as her turned to the twins.
"Girls, kindly go see what is bothering your…bird," he said silkily.
"Yes, Uncle Vernon," they answered sweetly, and left.
Once they had closed the lounge door, they burst into giggles.
"Can you believe that?" gasped Matilda in a whisper.
"It so strange!"
"Maybe we should bring up the fact that it's our birthday." suggested Matilda as they ascended the stairs.
"Yeah, they might run out and buy us something just to impress the Masons'!"
"I wonder – what the–?"
The girls had just entered their room, and low and behold, there was a house elf on Tabitha's bed. The tiny creature had large, bat-like ears and bulging green eyes the size of tennis balls. As soon as it saw them, it hopped of the bed and bowed so low that the end of its nose touched the carpet. The girls noticed that it was wearing what looked like a pillowcase, with rips for arm and leg holes.
"Er – hello…" said Matilda nervously.
"Tabitha and Matilda Potter!" said the creature in the high-pitched voice of a House elf, which the twins knew would carry down the stairs. "So long has Dobby wanted to meet you, Miss…such an honor it is…"
"Thank you," said Matilda, and the girls edged along the wall to sit on her bed. "Who are you?"
"Dobby, Miss. Just Dobby. Dobby the House-elf."
"Did Euterpe send you?" asked Tabitha hopefully, though she knew it probably wouldn't be true. The Noble's took very good care of their House-elves; Dobby was filthy.
Dobby shook his head, causing his ears to flop to and fro.
"Not to be rude…but this isn't a good time for us to have a house elf in our bedroom," said Matilda.
The elf hung his head.
"Not that we aren't pleased to meet you," Tabitha said hurriedly. "But is there any particular reason why you're here?"
"Oh, yes, Miss," said Dobby earnestly. "Dobby has come to tell you, Miss…it is difficult, Miss…Dobby wonders where to begin…"
"Why don't you sit down?" invited Matilda politely.
To their horror, Dobby burst into tears – very noisy tears.
"S-sit down!"he wailed,"Never…never ever…"
The voices downstairs faltered.
"I'm sorry," said Matilda, "I didn't mean to offend you or anything–"
"Offend Dobby!" the elf choked. "Dobby has never been asked to sit down by a witch or wizard…like an equal–"
The girls, trying to say "Shh!" and looked comforting at the same time, ushered Dobby back onto Tabitha's bed where he sat hiccoughing, looking like a large and ugly doll. At last he managed to control himself, and sat with his great eyes fixed on the girls opposite in an expression of watery adoration.
"You can't have met many decent wizards," said Tabitha, trying to cheer him up.
Dobby shook his head. Then, without warning, he leapt up and started banging his head on the window, shouting, "Bad Dobby! Bad Dobby!"
"Don't – what are you doing?" Matilda hissed, jumping up and pulling Dobby back onto the bed.
"Dobby had to punish himself, Miss." Said the elf, who had gone slightly cross-eyed. "Dobby almost spoke ill of his family, Miss…"
The twins, who were familiar with the laws of house-elves, having met a few at their friend Euterpe's house, nodded, but protested that Dobby needn't hurt himself to do it. At this, Dobby launched into admiration of the girls' 'greatness', which they protested, saying they weren't even top of their year at Hogwarts; their friends Hermione and Euterpe (followed by Terry Boot, a Ravenclaw whom Tabitha had a slight crush on) were, but mentioning them made the twins' stomachs hurt.
"The Potters' are most humble and modest," Dobby said, now reverently. "They speak not of their triumph over He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named…"
"Voldemort?" Tabitha said.
Dobby clasped his hands over his ears and moaned, "Ah, speak not the name, Miss! Speak not the name!"
"Sorry," said Tabitha. "I know a lot of people don't like it. Our friend Ron–"
But she stopped, because talking about Ron was painful too.
Dobby leaned toward the girls, his eyes as wide as headlights.
"Dobby heard that Tabitha and Matilda Potter met the Dark Lord for a second time, just weeks ago…that they escaped again…"
The girls nodded, and Dobby's eyes suddenly shown with tears.
"Ah, Miss," he dabbed at his eyes with part of his grubby pillowcase. "Tabitha and Matilda Potter are valiant and bold! They have braved so many dangers already! But Dobby has come to protect Tabitha Potter and Matilda Potter, to warn them, even if he does have to shut his ears in the over door later…Tabitha and Matilda Potter must not go back to Hogwarts."
There was a silence broken only by the chink of silverware downstairs.
"W-what?" Matilda stuttered.
"But we've got to go back, terms starts on September first–"
"It's all that's keeping us going!"
"You don't know what it's like here!"
"We don't belong here!"
"We belong in your world – at Hogwarts!"
"No, no, no," said Dobby, shaking his head so hard that his ears flapped. "The Potters' must stay where they are safe! They are too great, too good to lose! If Tabitha Potter and Matilda Potter go back to Hogwarts, they will be in mortal danger!"
"Why?" they asked in surprise.
"There is a plot, Miss's, a plot to make most terrible things happen at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry this year." Whispered Dobby, suddenly trembling.
"What terrible things?" Demanded Matilda.
"Who's plotting them?" Echoed her twin.
Dobby made a choking noise and banged his head against the wall.
"All right!" cried Matilda. "You can't tell us, we understand!"
"But why are you warning us?" Asked Tabitha.
Then a sudden, unpleasant thought struck them.
"Hang on," said Matilda, "This doesn't have anything to do with Vol – sorry…with You-Know-Who, has it?"
"You could just shake or nod," added Tabitha hurriedly, as Dobby's head tilted towards the wall again.
Dobby shook his head slowly.
"Not – not He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named, Miss–"
But Dobby's eyes were wide. He seemed to be trying to give them a hint. The twins, however, were lost.
"He hasn't got a brother has he?"
Dobby shook his head, eyes wider than ever.
"Well then, I can't think who else would have a chance of making terrible things happen at Hogwarts," said Matilda thoughtfully.
"I mean, there's Dumbledore, for one thing – you know who Dumbledore is, don't you?"
Dobby bowed his head.
"Albus Dumbledore is the greatest Headmaster Hogwarts has ever had. Dobby knows it, Miss. Dobby has heard Dumbledore's powers rival that of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named at the height of his strength. But Miss," –Dobby's voice dropped to an urgent whisper– "there are powers Dumbledore doesn't…powers no decent wizard…"
And before they could stop him, Dobby seized the girls' desk lamp and started beating himself over the head with earsplitting yelps.
A sudden silence fell downstairs. Two seconds later, they heard Uncle Vernon coming into the halls, calling, "Dudley must have left his television on again, the little tyke!"
"Quick! In the closet!" Cried Matilda, stuffing Dobby in and they both flung themselves onto their beds just as the door flew open.
"What the devil are you two doing?" Demanded Uncle Vernon through gritted teeth. "You two have been up here for half and hour already! The Masons' are eating up your tragic orphan story, and we need you back out there!"
"Sorry Uncle Vernon, we'll just give them some treats so they'll be quiet–"
"– and be right down." Promised the girls.
He glared at them, but left.
"Dobby, we have to go back downstairs," Said Tabitha, letting the elf out of the closet. "Maybe you could come back later…"
Dobby shook his head.
"It was difficult enough for Dobby to get away today, Miss." Dobby said sadly. "I only wished to ask Tabitha and Matilda Potter to stay home this year, for their own good!"
"Dobby, we can't!" Said Matilda.
"Yeah, Hogwarts is the only place we belong, the only place we have…well, we think we have friends…"
"Friends who don't even write to the Potters?" Asked Dobby slyly.
"We expect they've…just been…" Matilda's voice trailed off in confusion.
"Hang on," Said Tabitha slowly, "How did you know our friends haven't been writing to us?"
"Miss mustn't be angry with Dobby – Dobby did it for the best…"
"Have you been stopping our letters?" the twins demanded.
"Dobby has them here, Miss." Said the elf, reaching inside his pillowcase and pulling out dozens of letters. They recognized the familiar writing of Hermione Granger, Ron Weasley, Millie Bulstrode, Euterpe Noble, Neville Longbottom, and Aaric MacDonald, and several that looked to be from the Hogwarts gamekeeper, Hagrid, and the Muggle Studies teacher, Charity.
Dobby blinked anxiously at the girls.
"Tabitha and Matilda Potter mustn't be angry with Dobby – Dobby thought that…if they thought their friends didn't like them anymore…they might not want to go back to Hogwarts…"
Tabitha made a grab for the letters, but Dobby jumped out of reach.
"The Potters will have them, Miss, if they gives Dobby their words that they will not return to Hogwarts! Ah, Miss, this is a danger you mustn't face! Say you will not go back!"
"No," said Matilda angrily. "Give us our friends' letters!"
"Then the Potters leave Dobby no choice…" The elf said sadly, and disappeared with a snap of his fingers.
The girls looked at each other in complete confusion.
"Girls!" Aunt Petunia called from downstairs; she was using an overly sweet voice, so the Masons' must still be there.
Quickly, the two ran down the stairs.
"Ah, there you two are!" cried Uncle Vernon jovially.
"Would you two mind fetching the pudding from the kitchen for your auntie?" asked Aunt Petunia sweetly.
"We'd be glad to, Aunt Petunia." Said Matilda, smiling, and they went into the kitchen.
This time, they could not hold back a scream.
It looked as if a tornado had struck the kitchen.
There were broken pots and pans and dishes everywhere; the cupboards had been emptied completely, everything thrown around and dented or broke. And the pudding – a beautiful mound of whipped cream topped with sugared violets – looked to have exploded everywhere.
And in the corner of the kitchen was Dobby. He winked at the girls, before snapping his long fingers at the approaching footsteps and disappearing in a puff of smoke.
It didn't matter how much the girls told their Aunt and Uncle that it wasn't their fault, and that there was literally no way they could have done it; they still got in trouble. To make matters worse, the Ministry had sent them a letter warning against doing magic outside school.
The letter landed on Mrs. Mason's head, and she screamed and ran out of the house. Her husband explained that she was mortally afraid of birds, and asked the Dursleys if this was their idea of a joke.
The next day, Uncle Vernon paid a man to fit bars on the twins' bedroom window. He added about a dozen locks to their door, and fitted a cat flap in the bottom so that small amounts of food could be pushed through three times a day. The twins were let out to use the bathroom in the morning and evening. Otherwise, they were locked in their room around the clock.
"There has to be something we can do!" Matilda finally cried out in frustration three days later.
"Well, we know that if we don't show up for school, someone will come get us," reminded her twin.
"Yes, but we'll probably starve before then!" moaned Matilda, flopping down on her bed.
Suddenly she sprang up, "Ow!" she cried, picking up the thick patchwork journal she had sat on.
"That's it!" cried Tabitha, jumping up as well.
"What's it?" asked Matilda, completely blank.
"The journals! We write to the others!" Tabitha said, grabbing a quill off of the desk and picking up her journal. Euterpe had given all of her friends and a few of their acquaintances these magical journals that they could use to write messages to each other.
"Of course! Why didn't we think of that before?" Matilda agreed excitedly, sitting next to her sister and pushing up her glasses.
There were at least three dozen messages from all their friends, asking where they were, why they hadn't wrote, and if they were okay.
The girls grinned at each other. They hadn't forgotten about them!
Tabitha quickly inked her quill and wrote:
Everyone: We're all right…well, we're alive anyway. There was this…incident, and the Dursleys locked us in our room. They had bars put on the windows and are barely feeding us, Loch and Jack and Hedwig are locked in their cages, and they're saying we can't go back to Hogwarts!
It took less than a minute for answers to appear.
Oh my goodness! That's terrible! I thought Dumbledore wrote them about doing things like that!Wrote Hermione.
Don't worry;, I'll talk to my grandmother right now about getting you two out. They won't be able to stop an adult wizard!Came Euterpe's handwriting seconds later.
Then was Ron: No way! Those guys are real jerks…don't worry, me and Ginny will work with the twins and figure something out.
The two twins were very touched by their friends' words, and thanked them.
The next second, the cat-flap rattled, and Aunt Petunia pushed two cans of soup through the opening. The twins, whose insides were aching with hunger, grabbed their cans and swallowed half in one gulp, even though it was stone cold and not watered down like it was supposed to be. When they finished, they tipped the soggy vegetables into Hedwig's, Loch's, and Jack's bowls. Jack wrinkled his nose, and Hedwig hooted indignantly.
"Sorry, but it's all we have," said Matilda grimly.
They put the empty cans back on the floor by the cat flap and laid down on their beds, feeling hungrier than before.
Wondering how long they would last on meals like this, the girls fell into an uneasy sleep.